1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to time-interleaved converter systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Time-interleaving a set of analog-to-digital converters is a technique that achieves sample rates for a converter system greater than can be realized by any one of the individual converters. If converters can sample and convert signals at a converter rate RC, for example, then N converters can be time-interleaved to realize a system rate RS=NRC.
Unfortunately, time-interleaved systems are sensitive to sample timing errors which may introduce significant spurious signals in their output digital signals. Efforts to reduce these timing errors have included the introduction of special calibration routines. These routines have typically required that the system operation be periodically suspended (to permit calibration) or required limitations in the characteristics of the analog input signals.